Only Human
by A.R.M.Y Fangirl
Summary: Keira Lawton is a mask. Behind that mask, there's only pain, sadness, fear. Constantly striving to survive the depths of depression. She never asked for mutant powers- or Hydra to come and take her away, force her into the perfect weapon. She wants to sink into darkness and just stay there. Until Keira meets the X-Men. There, she meets the the light of her life, and so much more.
1. Who am I?

Today's a perfectly normal day. In the front of the institute, Jean, Cyclops, Kurt and Kitty stands in front of Logan. In a training session.

"Go, go, go!" Logan waves at them. "We still have an hour of training ahead of us, bub!"

Kurt moans and teleports over to him.

"Give us a break, Logan!" he murmurs as he trudges towards the outdoor training sessions.

"I'll give you a break." A voice whispers in his ear, and Nightcrawler's struck unconscious and dragged into the bushes.

"Hey!" Kitty jogs over. "Where'd he go? He was here a moment ago!"

A disc comes flying and attaches itself to Kitty's head. An electric shock renders her unconscious and the figure drags her into the bushes, too.

Cyclops, too busy, blasts at Logan's machines and hits one. The beam, however, rebounds and blasts Cyclops backwards.

"Scott!" Jean yells, and floats towards him, forming a telekinetic shield.

Then the telekinetic shield dissolves, and Jean's shot by a razor beam.

All four. Unconscious.

Logan sniffs, and growls, and his claws emerge.

"I can smell you, bub." He snarls. "Come out. Where are you?" he looks around, sniffing and uncertain.

A raven-haired girl, wearing sunglasses and a stealth suit, launches herself from the trees, aiming a kick that sends Logan crashing backwards.

"What the- hey!" Wolverine almost curses as she flips over and shoots him. It looks like the ray of energy just came out from her hands.

"Wolverine!" the girl's voice sounds full of fury. She curls her hands into fists and aims them at him, like a Superman pose, and electricity flows out and catches him right on the chest.

"What. The. Hell. Do. You. Want." He growls, as the girl plants her foot on his chest.

"Information." The girl taps on her wrist, and a hologram shimmers up. "Explain about me, her, you, everything!"

The holograms show 3 files- one of X-23, one of himself, and one of the girl standing in front of him. The name reads Keira Lawton. Age, 15. In the picture, she's also wearing sunglasses. The caption reads, PROJECT E.

"Hydra did this to you?" he asked, surprised.

"Correction, you and her did this to me!" the girl shouts as she shuts off the hologram and applies pressure to his chest.

"Logan!" the kids come running, then stop when they see the girl. "What the- "

Cyclops reacts faster and shoots a beam from his visor.

Upon impact, it simply dissipates.

"That doesn't work on me." Keira growls, then runs towards the mutants. Jean rises up into the air and try to mind-blast Keira. Nothing happens.

"That doesn't work on me either." She uses the tree as a springboard and jumps up, shooting the redhead with red energy. Cyclops' red energy.

Nightcrawler teleports behind her, but a telekhinetic energy shield intercepts him.

"We can explain in the Xavier Institute, bub." Wolverine walks towards the girl calmly. She's crouched down in a fighting stance, fists up, and he smells fear.

Fear of betrayal.

"We can explain everything to you." Scott probes gently.

"You think I need an explanation?" the girl exclaims. "What I need is someone to revenge. Someone other than Hydra."

"Come on, kid." Wolverine sighs. "We can help you."

For the first time in ten minutes, Logan doesn't see the girl as another victim of Hydra- he sees the lost, frightened girl, hidden behind the mask called Keira Lawton. Damaged, too scarred to have a normal life; a girl that's never had anyone embrace her. A girl that needs someone to embrace her.

So Logan takes her into the Xavier Institute.


	2. Information

"Professor?" Kitty peeks her head through the door.

"Yes, Kitty?" Professor X wheels himself over to the door.

"Someone needs to see you."

The professor opens the door to see a Logan, Scott, Jean and a young raven-haired girl.

"Hello." Professor X smiles and holds out his hand. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Keira… Lawton." She glances at the hand, then at Logan, then at the hand again.

She shakes it.

"Nice to meet you, Keira. Now, you said you wanted to see me?" The professor wheels himself over to the desk.

"Yeah, about that. You don't mind if we have a talk?" Logan glares at the students, and they trail out, muttering.

"So, Logan, is it Keira that you want to talk about?" the professor kneads his hands together and stares at both of them with a determined expression, fully aware of the heads peeking at them from between the door.

"Yeah. She's a kid… who got captured by Hydra, and- "

"They didn't capture me. My parents sold me out for money. For filthy money."

Professor and Logan exchange looks.

"Oh, dear." The professor says.

"And then they trained my mutant powers." She looks at her hands, glowing with energy.

"Ah. About your mutant powers… did you get them naturally?"

"Yeah. Hydra was going to put me through the weapon x process when they found out I had natural mutant powers."

"I don't mean to probe, but what exactly is your mutant power, bub?" Wolverine sniffs. "Cause I sure saw you doing a lot of things up there today."

"My powers. I can manipulate energy and change them into other types of energy if I want. Any kind of energy. But I can't create energy- only suck it up or whatever the hell you call it."

"Do you realize how powerful the extent of your powers are, Keira?"

"Yeah. Almost everything moving in the world uses energy." She lets the energy dissipate in her hand.

"With your powers, you could manipulate almost anything in the world." Professor says, then coughs. "Now onto the point. Do you wish to stay here? You are always welcome: The Xavier institute is always welcome to new mutants."

"I can't." the girl clenches her fists. "Hydra, SHIELD, they'll all want to use me and hunt me down. You think just because I've ran away they're going to just let go of me?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure you can, bub… if you try." Wolverine growls and turns away.

The girl's silent for a while.

"Can I have a few days to think about your offer?"

"Of course, Kiera. You can- "

Before the professor could say more, she leapt through the window and disappeared.


End file.
